Glad to see everyone joining the party. Interesting thing is if the Russians are having cost overruns and set backs I wonder how the Chinese are fairing. I know the realistic limits of thier capabilities and that goes without saying. More to come I imagine.

The Indian FGFA was delayed too. Isn't it beautiful how the Russian aviation fanbois (and Kopp's) beliefs that the Pak-Fa was going to number in the thousands by the 2020s is falling apart as we speak?

Hmm.. "ready for production in 2019", add 3 years for mission systems, a couple more (optimistically) before any squadron declares IOC. That would put them 20 years behind the F-22's IOC date of Dec. '05.

structuresguy wrote:Interesting thing is if the Russians are having cost overruns and set backs I wonder how the Chinese are fairing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If anyone thinks that just copying the shape of the F-22 will give you a stealthy fighter with it's performance, they are just kidding themselves. There is a heck of a lot more that makes up the F-22 and it isn't easy building this plane, for a reason.

Who out there is surprised that Russia and China are having difficulties? To those people, just the amount of T-50s and J-20s that exist and are flying should tell you something.

This actually makes me more optimistic about Sukhoi's chances. A nice healthy spoonful of reality could help the PAK-FA become real itself.

Yes, it will be very expensive to build a modern aircraft with advanced capabilities (even if those capabilities fall well short of the Raptor). And yes, it will take a long time to work out the bugs in a gaggle of technologies they barely have a grasp of, and no experience in. By being honest with themselves and Uncle Vladimir about this, they take a healthy step towards getting the space and funding they need to build the best PAK-FA they're capable of.

The only real risk is the Indians will get fed up enough with the delays or cost to seriously negotiate for some F35s instead. Sukhoi really needs their money to finish this project.

The T-50 should be faster and more manueverable. How much more advanced the avionics are, is anybody's guess. It'll also have a considerably better RCS than a Flanker. It sounds more like a well equipped Typhoon/Rafale class aircraft, with a better RCS.